Firewire, its killing me!

My story:

I am getting a StudioLive 16.4.2, which apparantly only has a Firewire port. I already have Pro Tools 9 on an ASUS G73 which has only USB ports. So, from what I can tell, a Firewire port cannot be added to the ASUS. I am not all that computer savvy, so I need a little help on where to go from here. I would like to use a laptop with my new StudioLive. The simplier, the better. Should I get a PC or a Mac? I have never owned a Mac, so all my computer exprience is PC based. I should be able to put my Pro Tools on either. Also, since I just laid down like a thousand clams for my ASUS, I would really like to keep the expense of getting all this up and running at a minimun.

Did you do a search first? There are many threads about just this subject.

Quick 2 cents? Minimum Mac laptop would be $1299. Are you willing to spend that much?

I got my Mac last October and haven't looked back. I still use my Windows 7 laptop for email and all other stuff, but my recording is all Mac. It just works.

There are also several pc laptops you can get and add a FireWire card, just make sure it's a compatible chipset like TI.

Like I said - do a forum search for Mac vs PC. You will be reading for days...

Honestly, get a Mac, it really does work, just plug and play. I am not one of the people out there that is stuck on one type of computer. I have and regularly use PC's with XP, Win7, Ubuntu Linux, SME server, and Macs. I like all of them for their specific purposes. For this purpose there is only computer I will use because it works really, really well and that is Mac. We have hundreds of shows under our belt using them and not just with the local garage bands. We have done shows with national and regional acts with zero hiccups.

We started out using the iMac($1399) then tried the Mac Mini($625) and it works great after adding more ram. We run all of our Mini's with 8 GB of RAM. The mini is half the price or less of the other Macs and we had plenty of extra monitors, keyboards and mice. We now use the Apple wireless keyboard and Magic Trackpad in a custom tray that we make and all our Mini's and routers are mounted in a custom rack mount that we make.

Once the new thunderbolt to FireWire adapter comes out, the MacBook air could be a viable solution as well. It's been tested with a tbolt to express card to FireWire chain up and functioned.

You'd definitely need an external drive for recording but the rest could work nicely.

I do NOT support the Mac-craze. I've used a lot of both Mac and PC and I feel people only like Mac because someone else told them it was the way to go. It's just good marketing and their ties with Pro-Tools are at the route. WIth that said, you need firewire and USB both and you're more likely to get that out of the box with Mac so it's not really much of a choice unless you have the ability to get the adapter or know where you can get a Win laptop relatively fast and simply. You obviously have internet so that's not a much of a stretch.

You are definitely entitled to your opinion and that's what is great about this forum, we are encouraged to share our opinion. And now I will share mine based on 18 years of experience with all DOS, all Windows, Mac Classic, Mac OS X, Sun, Alpha, several variety's of Unix and many varieties of Linux. I have the certifications and the real world experience to back up my opinion.

I spent a lot of years thinking the same thing about the Macs. I felt the graphic designers , who most I knew had never used a Windows machine, were just spreading the marketing hype and were just prodding me to get under my skin.

As a network admin I had plenty of opportunity to work on the Macs from OS 8 thru the final OS 9 and now OS X through the current version of Lion. I did the homework and tried it for myself. It isn't marketing hype, the Macs really do "just work".

With all of the different computing platforms I have learned that there is a specific purpose that each of them perform far and away better than any other on a consistent basis.

For me, there is no comparison. In this specific situation where we are running the Presonus Mixers with Capture, VSL and in a Live situation and we are considering a Mac with USB and Firewire, the Mac wins hands down. The Mac works out of the box with no optimizing and no special configuration. There is no marketing "hype" to it, it just works. I am such a "find out for myself" kind of person that when someone tells me "this is the way to go", well my response is "we'll see about that". I have sold and installed Presonus Mixers in many different situations and many times have had the customer PooPoo the Macs. After many agonizing experiences trying to optimize and configure the Windows boxes, I will loan them one of my Mac Mini setups for 2 weeks. Every time they buy the setup because......it just works. No hearsay or marketing hype, it really does just work.

Now, I have 2 Windows machines under my desk that I do a lot of my business work with. I also have an iMac on top of the desk that I do other work with. They all are hidden from the rest of the world by a Linux server box, and they all work really well.

Having said all that I'll follow up with this:
I have also spent an inordinate amount of time at trade shows(time I will never get back unfortunately) and product conferences and have had the conversations with the engineers and programmers. My question is always why use a Mac or Why use Windows. When only one platform has been chosen, the answer comes back most of the time that the platform of choice proved to be the most reliable for our purposes.

Mac craze? This PC/Linux guy thinks you would be crazy to NOT use a Mac with your Presonus
But that's just my opinion.

Not to really be too much either way on the great debate but the decision to go one way or another has a great deal to do with budget, and skill level.

For what we do, macs generally work right out of the box. I don't think there's too much debate on that. But you will pay for that.

Windows can and will work as well but usually require some skill to manipulate the hardware and operating system into doing what you want. The advantage here is that you can get a lot more power for the same cost as a Mac.

It's a trade off either way.

It's a trade off either way.

And THAT is the bottom line. I've had to use Macs and PCs for years in various capacities and personally,
I prefer PC's. I don't care for the Mac OS. I don't like the fact that their architecture is closed. And I feel they
are overpriced. That being said...they do "just work" and are a good choice for someone with more money
than experience.

Well, I think I need simple after the wrestling match I had getting Protools to work on my PC. I am looking at this:

Apple 15.4" 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro

I can pick it up off Craigs List for $450. Looks like the specs are right? And I need something easy to get started on.

Don't give it too much to do and you should be fine with that setup.

I am hoping for 16 track live recording

You'll be able to record 16 tracks with that. I've done it on less.

Will I need an external hard drive?

I'd actually recommend an external USB unit with a 7200 rpm drive in it to be absolutely certain. Stay clear of the FireWire drives in your case. They'll eat up your bandwidth. USB works just fine for what you're gonna do.

Thank you so much for your help.